Thoughts on My Apps

I do not give much credence to New Years resolutions, yet in January of 2015, I made a resolution to remove all games from my iPhone and computer.  I did this to attempt to determine the proper use of my phone.  Since January of 2015, I have not played any games on my phone, except for a 48 hour period where I had to try the Augmented Reality game Pokemon Go.  I experienced it and deleted it.

What is the proper use of my iPhone?  The short answer is this:  not to make phone calls.  We still call them phones, but people don’t make phone calls.  However, I can make and receive phone calls with my phone.  My church uses Vonage for their main phone line.  I have the Vonage app on my phone so calls to the church can ring through.  I also use an app called SideLine which allows me to have a second phone line on my iPhone.  So there are four phone numbers that people can call and ring my iPhone (I have my own extension as well as the main number through Vonage).  All this to say that my phone is still a phone.  Additionally, I have a different ringtone for each person I know, so I know who is calling without looking at the phone.  When people from my church call, it plays Cornerstone from Days of Fire

As for apps on my iPhone, I have been determining what I use and what needs to be removed.  There are two tools built into IOS for this task.  The first is under “Battery” in settings.  People can see what apps they use the most.  Apple is looking at battery usage, but that also means time usage and that can be seen by tapping the little clock.  Every day I look at this to see what I did yesterday.  Also, in IOS 11, coming soon to an iPhone near you, there is a setting to unload unused apps.  That data and documents remain, the app is just removed if you don’t use it.  It will be interesting to see what apps this setting removes from my phone come IOS 11.

I also regularly post screen shots of my home screen on twitter as a public declaration of what I am doing.  In these ways I am trying too keep a public face on the apps I use.

So what do I do with my phone every day?  First and foremost I manage my tasks.  I use Things as my task manager.  It syncs on all my devices and computers and allows me to enter tasks with Siri.  Everything I have to do today is on my phone.  I  end each day by organizing and adding my tasks for the next day.

I also use my phone to listen to podcasts.  I listen to various pastor/teaching podcasts and a few political podcasts.  They are a great way to manage my time while driving.  I use Overcast.

I have my contacts, a dictionary, shopping list and DevonThink to manage all my documents.  I also have Facebook and twitter to stay up with the news and stay in touch with relatives and friends.  I do not just browse Facebook, I go there to read specific posts from family or friends.

Every since I removed games from my phone I do not open my phone just to wast time.  I want to use it as a productivity tool and I want to use it to be a better pastor, family member and friend.



#Thoughts on My Apps#